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I know this is opening a can of worms - but I have questions involving a request to do some home dec sewing for a friend...

Yes, I am considering it. Yesterday a friend asked me to come look at some windows and curtains she needed made (she has some experience sewing). After I helped her calculate yardage she said, "And how much would it be if I hired you to do it?" I told her I had only sewed once for payment (altho' I have done it many more times for trade or just for gifts) and that I wasn't sure if I was taking on jobs. I also said I wasn't sure she'd afford me. I told her I would get back to her on it.

I got home and realized if A. I didn't underquote myself and B. I was allowed to pick fabrics that are pretty and fun to work with, I would enjoy to do this and to make a little money. So...

I have been asked to sew for $$ many times in the past. I have offered my services for free IF they are doing the sewing. In other words, I will help them pick out fabric and mentor them through the process, as long as they are doing all the work themselves. Keep in mind, I only make this offer to close friends. I have found it effective in weeding out the lazybones from those who want to learn. And every time I have done this (about a half-dozen times), I have learned something new. If I become a more serious businesswoman I probably won't make this offer. But for now I like "spreading the love" and helping some women realize that sewing isn't always fast, easy or cheap! ... plus I know how much it can help someone to have a mentor - I have sure appreciated the times I have had one (and some of you ladies here are included!).

I am only an Intermediate level seamstress so for me it would probably be inappropriate to charge top-dollar. My plan is to email my friend with yardage requirements and suggestions (if she decides to do it herself) and a quote (for the job, not by the hour). I am thinking $200 (this doesn't include fabric costs) and would be for six simple lined curtains. Three will have tabs and the other three will have a casing and top ruffle (Go ahead, tell me I'm crazy!).

Any tips at all would be appreciated - go gentle on me as I am just now starting to consider sewing for hire and I don't want to hear a bunch of cynicism and admonisment!

see the mundane life of a housewife.

User: blackie
Member since: 03-31-2004
Total posts: 594

From: Karebear

Date: 06-30-2005, 07:41 PM (2 of 8)

I do believe that you have thought this out and it sounds like it will be a learning process all the way around... go for it girl....

Karen

Karen

http://www.dancingwicks.com"If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." --Antoine de Saint-Exupery

User: Karebear
Member since: 01-24-2002
Total posts: 338

From: AndreaSews

Date: 06-30-2005, 07:55 PM (3 of 8)

if you have the time to devote and you're up for the experience, then sure! I might pop in to a Calico Corners or similar fabric store that offers the sewing service and try to get a quote from them. That might help you get an idea if you're giving yourself enough credit. Funny, what you said about letting people know that sewing for hire isn't fast or easy--Your email outlining the cost of materials plus the cost of labor may well scare her away! That happened to me last month with a much much smaller job. If your estimate scares her, then you may well earn yourself another mentee. And think how proud she could be of herself for tackling that job with just a little help from you!

Andrea

User: AndreaSews
Member since: 02-18-2005
Total posts: 1007

From: blackie

Date: 06-30-2005, 09:48 PM (4 of 8)

if you have the time to devote and you're up for the experience, then sure! I might pop in to a Calico Corners or similar fabric store that offers the sewing service and try to get a quote from them. That might help you get an idea if you're giving yourself enough credit. Funny, what you said about letting people know that sewing for hire isn't fast or easy--Your email outlining the cost of materials plus the cost of labor may well scare her away! That happened to me last month with a much much smaller job. If your estimate scares her, then you may well earn yourself another mentee. And think how proud she could be of herself for tackling that job with just a little help from you!

I agree. If I make a wage I am happy with, that's a success. If she decides (based on how much I charge) to do it herself and she follows through - that's a success too. I just don't want to end up sewing yards of fabric I hate, or earning a wage I am resentful of later.

I have never heard of Calico Corners!

see the mundane life of a housewife.

User: blackie
Member since: 03-31-2004
Total posts: 594

From: AndreaSews

Date: 07-01-2005, 08:32 PM (5 of 8)

Calico Corners is big in the East. Not for quilting as you might guess, but all home-dec. It's all high end designer stuff, no less that $16/yd and up well past $30/yd. You can just get fabric and do your own work, or you can buy the fabric from them and then pay them to use it for your window treatments or upholstery of a handful of stock furniture pieces they sell. Big Bux.

Andrea

User: AndreaSews
Member since: 02-18-2005
Total posts: 1007

From: shadylady

Date: 07-02-2005, 11:02 AM (6 of 8)

Pricing has a lot of variables, such as your location, experience, quality of work, method of sewing (hand vs. machine sewn hems), details, pattern matching, etc., etc., and also what you need to make to earn a living. You can use Calico Corners prices for comparison for valances, but don't try to compare or beat their panel prices because you can't. They outsource their panels to large workrooms, who sew panels production style and can charge much less. A one person workroom can't do this. They send the other work to local workrooms who will charge more.
I disagree that Calico sells high end fabrics. They sell low to mid end fabrics. High end can only be bought thru designers.

User: shadylady
Member since: 09-19-2003
Total posts: 58

From: Carol in ME

Date: 07-04-2005, 08:32 AM (7 of 8)

The price seems a little low to me, but if you think it would be a fun project, and the info can be put to use in the future, go ahead. I take on projects a couple times a year in which I can learn about different construction techniques and fabrics, pay is not much, but the experience is valuable. (It's called "community theater.)

The only caution I'd give is this: don't allow your friend to run around telling everyone that you made her curtains for this price. 1. You will never shake the reputation of being cheap labor. 2. Every time someone does things dirt cheap, it make it harder for even experienced seamstresses to justify their prices. 3. Remember too, these words of wisdom I gleaned for an Ann Landers column many years ago: A person wrote in to express her frustration that all the people she knew wanted discounts on her husband's car upholstery services, because they were "friends." It was pointed out that they must make money doing business with their friends, since their enemies took their business elsewhere.

User: Carol in ME
Member since: 01-27-2003
Total posts: 105

From: Karebear

Date: 07-04-2005, 08:49 AM (8 of 8)

Carol from Maine wrote "Remember too, these words of wisdom I gleaned for an Ann Landers column many years ago: A person wrote in to express her frustration that all the people she knew wanted discounts on her husband's car upholstery services, because they were "friends." It was pointed out that they must make money doing business with their friends, since their enemies took their business elsewhere.""

Thank you ..

Karen

Karen

http://www.dancingwicks.com"If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." --Antoine de Saint-Exupery